Bank Employees have announced a strike from 28 to 30 September 2026, demanding implementation of 5-day banking and cancellation of the new PLI scheme. 5-day banking is pending since more than 2 years, and bankers are urging the government to declare 5 day work week for banks.
Recently, the RBI has permitted banks to open branches on Sunday – 27 September 2026, due to an upcoming 3-day strike from 28 to 30 September 2026, and it has led to big chaos. What created the chaos is the statement from UFBU that allowed bank employees to work on Sunday.
But why did UFBU allow its members to work on Sunday? Are there any legal complications? Let’s understand this in this article.
Bank management can issue internal administrative circulars requiring employees to attend office, but they must strictly comply with existing service regulations and labor laws.
The Government has announced via PIB that banks will remain open on Sunday. A PIB Press Release is a public announcement tool and not a statutory Gazette notification. It reflects an executive decision by the Ministry of Finance. For the branch opening to be actionable and mandatory for staff, the operational mechanism works through regulatory and corporate channels.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officially granted approval to the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to keep branches, offices, and currency chests operational on Sunday, September 27, 2026. Crucially, the RBI’s approval letter explicitly directs banks to ensure adherence to relevant legal requirements. This means regulatory permission to open a branch does not allow management to bypass standard employment protections.
Individual bank administrations can order staff to report for duty, but employees are legally entitled to protections governed by the 12th Bipartite Settlement and Officers’ Service Regulations.
Under the 12th Bipartite Settlement (BPS) signed between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the bank unions, a Sunday is legally recognized as a weekly rest day (holiday). If management exercises its administrative right to open a branch on a Sunday, the 12th BPS does not allow them to waive the rights of bankers.
Sundays are statutory public holidays under the NI Act. Banks cannot normally clear or process specific legal instruments on these days unless a specific regulatory overrule or administrative mechanism.
Experts say, the RBI approval was needed to operate currency chests and other important banking operations. While currency chests are physically located within commercial banks (like SBI or PNB), they hold money on behalf of the RBI. Therefore, a commercial bank cannot legally operate a currency chest or log transactions into RBI’s portal on a statutory holiday without explicit RBI clearing.
In the past also, banks have called their employees to work on holidays to complete pending work. In those cases, banks issued internal orders to open branches but currency chests remained closed, so RBI approval was not needed. In this case, RBI approval was taken to operate currency chests and other operations linked with RBI. The Government has not released any statutory order to open banks.
In the past also, bank unions have asked employees not to work on holidays despite internal orders from banks. Under the Industrial Disputes Act and the Negotiable Instruments Act, Sunday is a legally recognized weekly rest day. So, this time also, unions can ask employees not to work on Sunday.
In response to this order, major unions like the All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) have already issued counter-advisories instructing their members not to report to work on Sunday. If forced to work on a declared holiday/Sunday, employees must be paid overtime and/or holiday compensation.
